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July 18, 2006 |
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 DANA
RADERDana Rader Golf School By Henry Bostic Dana Rader, one of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teachers, told Charlotte Rotarians on Tuesday that she credits Rotary - specifically the Charlotte South Club - for the location of her nationally ranked Dana Rader Golf School at the Ballantyne Resort & Spa. According to the Morganton-native, she spoke at Charlotte South about nine years ago. It seems she so impressed former club member Adam Kantback, founder and former owner of La Bibliotheque restaurant (where the clubs meetings are held), that he wanted to take golf lessons - and right away! Kantback, who'd never played, tried to talk his way into one of her upcoming three-day courses. Rader was resistant, knowing the challenge of teaching a neophyte in a class with others. Undeterred, Kantback found out that his next door neighbor had to cancel out of the upcoming Rader class, so he took her place - without informing Rader. He just showed up! Said Rader, "it was a real struggle. We had to get him clubs and a shirt. You wouldn't believe how he was dressed." But Kantback was so pleased with the results that he hosted a cocktail party for the school's staff at his restaurant. During the party, Kantback mentioned that Smokey Bissell was getting ready to open up his Ballantyne Resort & Spa and that Rader should talk to him because it was going to be a golf resort. "Smokey Bissell. Who's that?" Rader recalled thinking. "I had no idea who he was. I was keeping my head down and working seven days a week teaching golf. " Seven days later she showed up at The Park Hotel for a meeting with Bissell. After "an interview that lasted from October 96 to February 97," the former LPGA touring pro said, she joined the new Bissell resort nine years ago. "That's how I got where I'm at," she quipped, not realizing the significance of her comment at Charlotte Rotary, infamous for its new-member introductory - How I Got Where I'm At - sessions. Selected again in 2005 to Golf Magazine's prestigious list of the Top 25 Schools, the state-of-the-art school was the first structure at the Ballantyne Resort on the site that now also features one of the top daily-fee golf courses in the Southeast and one of the country's top resort hotels and spa. The school founder and LPGA Master Professional said she first dreamed of becoming a golfer as an eight-year-old watching the old Kemper Open on television with her parents. She went out that weekend and "played for the crowd" in the next door grave yard. "The balls were going in all directions," she recalled, as they ricocheted off the tombstones. She later picked up the game as a 17-year-old with plans to make it as a tour pro. She made the men's golf team at Pheiffer University and made a run at the LPGA tour, but found her real love in teaching the game. Rader joined Myers Park Country Club in 1980 as an assistant professional where a "group of mentors," some of Charlotte's most successful and influential businessmen, she said, helped her develop business, management and communication skills while she continued to improve her golf game and teaching abilities. In 1982, she moved to Raintree Country Club in South Charlotte, where she founded the golf school. Since most of Charlotte Rotary members have been her mentors and role models, Rader said, she decided to "talk about golf - something I know more about than anyone in the room." Other Rader shots from the meeting: She credited the club pro at Mimosa Hills Country Club in her hometown who taught her to learn the game and to love the game of golf. No game so clearly "mirrors life" as golf, he told her. Like golf, "life is never good all the time. There are peaks and valleys. You have to have the discipline to stay with it no matter how bad the day." Rader praised the leadership of Carmel Country Club for hosting the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship, going on at the club. "It's some of the most incredible golf any where," she said, predicting that the emphasis reflected in the support of the tournament would one day lead to there being a world class LPGA championship event in the Queen City. The LPGA National Teacher of the Year in 1990 talked about a 22-lesson day several years ago in which 16 of her students had "the shanks." Recalling the day as another of life's learning experiences, she joked, "You've had clients like that come into your offices, too." Rader said she has mixed emotions about teenage sensation Michelle Wei playing on the men's tour. "It's the only way she can compete now because she's too young for the LPGA tour. I'm not an old fuddy, duddy, but I think the best place for her is on the women's tour," said Rader, who predicted that Wei would win a major title as soon as she's able. She praised the U.S. Golf Association for allowing the junior golfer to play using a golf cart during the championship this week at Carmel CC. "We should make accommodations for players with disabilities." One of the treats of the meeting was a "taste" of CPCC Summer Theater's upcoming presentation of the musical, 42nd Street, which begins Friday, July 21, and runs through July 29. Introduced by Tom Hollis, chair of the CPCC drama department, leads Elizabeth Stacey and Mat DeGuzman performed a duet from the well known show. They were accompanied by Simmons Hendrick, who retired from CPCC, but continues as music director emeritus of its Summer Theater. The show is in the brand new Halton Theater at the corner of Kings Drive and Elizabeth Avenue. Tickets are $14, $16, and $20 and can be purchased at the Box Office or by calling 704.330.6534. Head Table: Ken Poe, David Anderson, Luther Moore, BG Metzler, Henry Bostic, Alan Adler; Invocation: Mac McCarley Visitors & Guests: Mark Norman; Piano: Thomas Moore
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Revised: January 24, 2008.